Trolley Trail Gap. Finished, but closed?

Last month, the Riverdale Park Station Whole Foods opened, which brings us one step closer to them opening their section of the trolley trail. Without that section there is a short but painful gap in the trail. An unmarked detour does exists, but it involves taking Tukerman, Albion and Route 1. The detour is a bit long, but worse part of Route 1 is a low comfort ride.

The downside of the Whole Foods opening is that the website changed and no longer has construction updates. Those may still exist, but I can't find them. The last update I could find mentioned this

The Hiker/Biker Trail has been deeded to MNCPPC’s Department of Parks and Recreation who will manage and maintain the trail. They expect to open the trail for use by the public once they determine that site conditions are suitably safe from dangers associated with the immediately adjacent construction activities.

Which has been the case for some time now.

According to one photo, the trail may already be completed, but not open.

Opening this trail section of the trail - at least when construction warrants it - would be a boon to residents and trail users alike. As a blogger about the project wrote:

The faster these units get built the faster the hiker/biker trail will open which will be good for metro riders like me. Until that trail opens I will have to walk or bike around to Baltimore Avenue which will be much longer.

It would be nice to have an idea of when this section will open. It would be nicer to just open it now.

As it happens I took some photos of the site today. There are some shots of the closed (but apparently complete) trail on the north (also pictured above) and south. Also the short section of route 1 that has no sidewalk or bike lane and a few of the construction site. On the positive side: (1) there is a bike repair station at the Whole Foods; (2) the barriers are down where the trolley trail crosses Campus Drive (formerly Paint Branch Parkway).

This is a public right of way that has been closed far too long. For bike riders, it would be safer to go through despite the construction than detour to Route 1. All they need is to reorient the fencing and have a flagman on standby if a heavy truck needs to roll through. They're just being lazy and uncreative best I can tell.